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Monopoly of male audience

Are there any female viewers to the pictures presented in the public domain like media? The answer is ‘no’, at least for Nepalese context. In her research report, Use of language in Nepali Press, Sangita Rayamaghi concludes, “the political leaders and male only have usurped the press” (37). This statement supports that there is male hegemony in Nepali mass media and the advertisements broadcasted therein as well. The hegemony of male audience has not only controlled how human bodies should be presented in media but also eliminated the entity called “female audience”. Because of repeated broadcasting of the “pictures with male gaze”, the female audience in the society began to identify their “self” with the same “male gaze” and enjoy looking together with males, which is an effect of ideology formulated/nurtured through the same media. So all the pictures here, be it the Nepalese cinema, telecerials, advertisements and commercials, have in mind a coherent male audience.

For instance, watch this commercial of Pepsi, which is like a poster of Karina Kapoor, a Bollywood Star. The advertisement designer is guided by his own way of attracting audiences that people will be attracted to look at the advertisement because of the beauty of Karina Kaapoor if her certain body parts are over invested with sexual meanings and that they will also see Pepsi bottle in the side of Karina. Thus an audience, caught up by the beauty of the woman will latter buy a bottle of Pepsi. I find, in the ad, how the designer is already in the trap of male gaze and picture politics it creates. The designer supposed that the audience, are indeed only males who are supposed to be attracted by the body of Karina and this “weakness” apparently seems to be exploited by the crafty advertiser. What led the Pepsi Company to design this particular advertisement is, of course, the all-pervasive male gaze. And the advertisement without any hesitation approves the monopoly of male audience. Another such advertisement is that of Rite Juce, where the advertiser uses woman as a means of attraction for exclusively the males. The juice has its consumers both males and females, but the advertisement overlooks the female audience and...............[some sections missing] ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... ........... ...........

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................ ..........[some sections missing] ...........s of Rite Juice, Citrus Lime, Liril Orange have used women characters but at the same time they have designed them for men. In other words, they have forgotten that the women themselves are also their consumers. About 50 percent of their consumers should be women. But when male gaze is operating in the making of the advertisements, there is always the monopoly of male audience. If we look at the advertisements which are believed to be advertising women consumer’s items, we find that there is also the dominance of male gaze. For instance, take the advertisements of Family Cooking Oil and Shakti Soyabin oil where the women are supposed to be the target audience. In these advertisements also what we see is the dominance of male gaze, as women are presented there as passive objects to be “liked” or “disliked” by males upon observing them. In these advertisements, women are not allowed to look back at the males within the story of the advertisements and also the audience watching them. Therefore, who is supposedly watching them carefully is, of course, a male.